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The Absurd Opposition to Media Mergers

Consolidation of content companies began in 1998, without any harm to consumers.

By

Leo Hindery Jr.

Sept. 8, 2014 7:17 p.m. ET

Over the past several weeks, the Federal Communications Commission has been hearing concerns, confidentially, from media-content companies about Comcast's proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable. The private meetings, reported in this newspaper on Aug. 29, come after the public-comment period ended, and are one of many indications that the commission could block the acquisition.

Yet the agency has not appeared to give the same signals about the near-identical proposed merger between AT&T and DirecTV, perhaps because...